AURORA, Colorado (October 23, 2023) - The burning of sugarcane and rice husks may be releasing a toxicant causing a mysterious kidney disease in agricultural workers, according to a paper out today in the American Journal of Kidney Diseases. An ongoing epidemic of chronic kidney disease has been observed among manual laborers in hot agricultural communities throughout the world, including along the Pacific coast of Central America, India and Sri Lanka. While heat stress and climate change have contributed to this epidemic, researchers have identified tiny silica particles released from sugarcane ash that can be inhaled or ingested through contaminated drinking water that cause ...

A research team from the UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center has identified a crucial epitope (a protein section that can activate the larger protein) on the CD95 receptor that can cause cells to die. This new ability to trigger programmed cell death could open the door for improved cancer treatments. The findings were published Oct. 14 in the Nature journal Cell Death & Differentiation. CD95 receptors, also known as Fas, are called death receptors. These protein receptors reside on cell membranes. When activated, ...

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bsheal.2023.08.005   During severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection, activated macrophages, dendritic cells, neutrophils, and natural killer cells are the first defense against infection. These immune effectors trap and ingest the virus, kill infected epithelial cells, or produce anti-viral cytokines. Evidence suggests that aging, obesity, and mental illness can lead to weakened innate immunity and, thus, are all associated with elevated infection and severe disease progression of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). ...

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bsheal.2023.08.004   Data on the viral rebound and safety of nirmatrelvir/ritonavir in lung transplant (LTx) recipients are limited. The study prospectively followed four LTx recipients. Clinical characteristics, viral RNA dynamic in throat swabs, and tacrolimus blood concentration were monitored regularly. All four LTx recipients, aged 35–74 years, were not vaccinated against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). They got coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) after ...

TORONTO, October 23, 2023 –This year, Canada saw the worst wildfire season in its history, with fires destroying homes, displacing thousands of residents, and burning the largest area since contemporary records began in 1983. Much of this damage to communities could be reduced with better wildfire preparedness – but wildland urban interface (WUI) communities often face significant barriers in implementing these improvements, according to a study by York University’s Disaster and Emergency Management researchers. According to the study, Determinants of residential wildfire mitigation uptake: A ...

A new publication from Opto-Electronic Advances, 10.29026/oea.2023.230039 discusses diffraction-limited visible imaging for large aperture telescopes.   The deformable mirror used in adaptive optics can change its surface to instantly correct the static wavefront aberration of the optical system and atmospheric turbulence wavefront disturbance. This allows the optical system to automatically adapt to changes in the environment and maintain optimal performance. High-resolution astronomical observation, laser atmospheric transmission, and biomedical imaging all make extensive use ...

Texas A&M University is joining a multi-university team on a major research project to track objects orbiting the moon. The Air Force Research Laboratory is awarding up to $5 million over five years for the Space University Research Initiative (SURI). “The SURI is an outstanding initiative to train our next-generation workforce. We look forward to carrying out creative research aimed at addressing astronautical challenges in cislunar space,” said Dr. Manoranjan Majji, an associate professor and Josey Family Foundation Faculty Fellow in the Department of Aerospace Engineering at ...

Embargoed for release until 5:00 p.m. ET on Monday 23 October 2023 Annals of Internal Medicine Tip Sheet @Annalsofim Below please find summaries of new articles that will be published in the next issue of Annals of Internal Medicine. The summaries are not intended to substitute for the full articles as a source of information. This information is under strict embargo and by taking it into possession, media representatives are committing to the terms of the embargo not only on their own behalf, but also on behalf of the organization ...

In 2021, a team of University of Arizona astronomers suggested that a recently discovered near-Earth asteroid, Kamo`oalewa, could be a chunk of the moon. Two years after the striking discovery, another UArizona research group has found that a rare pathway could have enabled this to happen. So far, only distant asteroids from beyond the orbit of Mars have been considered a source of near-Earth asteroids, said Renu Malhotra, Regents Professor of Planetary Sciences and a senior author on the paper. "We are now establishing that the moon is a more likely source ...

A new study by University of Iowa researchers finds that rare lung cells known as pulmonary ionocytes facilitate the absorption of water and salt from the airway surface. This function is exactly the opposite of what was expected of these cells and may have implications for cystic fibrosis (CF) lung disease.   Five years ago, scientists reported the unexpected discovery that ionocytes—a cell type commonly found in fish gills and frog skin—are also present in the lining of human lungs and airways. These pulmonary ionocytes were particularly interesting to CF researchers because although they only account for about 1% of all the cells in the airway ...

ORLANDO, Oct. 23, 2023 – Researchers from the University of Central Florida, University of Texas at Dallas and Vanderbilt University have received a three-year, $927,203 grant for advancing future quantum education by using virtual reality (VR) and machine learning to identify and address misconceptions regarding quantum information science (QIS). The U.S. National Science Foundation-funded project started in August 2023 and leverages QubitVR, a quantum-education VR application previously developed ...

In exploratory analyses of results from the SWOG S1801 trial in patients with stage III-IV resectable melanoma, researchers saw a major pathologic response in more than half of surgical specimens taken from patients who had been treated with neoadjuvant (pre-operative) pembrolizumab. These and other results of the analyses are presented as a proffered paper (Abstract LBA48) at the European Society of Medical Oncology (ESMO) Congress 2023 in Madrid, Spain, on Monday, October 23, by Sapna P. Patel, MD, chair of the SWOG melanoma committee and associate professor of melanoma medical oncology at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. Patel is principal investigator ...

The New York Stem Cell Foundation (NYSCF) today announced the 2023 class of NYSCF – Robertson Investigators, welcoming three outstanding stem cell researchers into the NYSCF Innovator community. The NYSCF – Robertson Stem Cell Investigator Awards support promising early career scientists whose cutting-edge research holds the potential to accelerate treatments and cures through the NYSCF – Robertson Stem Cell Investigator Awards. The awards provide unrestricted seed funding – $1.5 million over five years –  for scientists who have established their own, ...

Researchers at New Jersey Institute of Technology’s Center for Solar-Terrestrial Research (NJIT-CSTR) have captured the Oct. 14 solar eclipse in a way never seen before — recording the first radio images of an annular eclipse’s famous “ring of fire” effect. The eclipse was partially visible to much of the continental U.S. for several hours that Saturday, though the full “ring of fire” effect was only visible for less than five minutes, and only for those within its 125-mile-wide path of annularity. However, the new observations of the radio Sun’s eclipse — ...

MISSOULA – The National Institutes of Health recently awarded a $12.3 million contract to the University of Montana to develop a novel vaccine adjuvant for use in a tuberculosis vaccine. Adjuvants are substances that boost the effectiveness of vaccines. The five-year award went to UM’s Center for Translational Medicine and its partners. The contract is titled “Development of UM-1098: A Novel Synthetic Th17 Inducing Adjuvant and Delivery System.” “The development and clinical evaluation of safe and effective ...

A new study sheds light on the vital role of communication and expertise within organizations, revealing their impact on group performance. Researchers examined how individuals become part of communication networks and the effect of selection processes on group performance. The study found that people who communicated more during training were more likely to be chosen as a central member of the network. In addition, teams that chose their central member performed as well as and often better than teams whose central member was randomly assigned. The study, by researchers ...

“Revealing the stem cell niche self-renewal dynamics is important not only for understanding tissue homeostasis but also for understanding the initiation of cancer [7].” BUFFALO, NY- October 23, 2023 – A new research paper was published in Oncotarget's Volume 14 on October 19, 2023, entitled, “Apoptotic cells may drive cell death in hair follicles during their regression cycle.” Intravital microscopy in live mice has shown that the elimination of epithelial cells during hair follicle regression involves supra-basal cell differentiation and basal cell apoptosis through synergistic action of TGF-β (transforming ...

COLUMBUS, Ohio – A $3.6 million award from the National Institutes of Health will allow neurosurgical, neurology and neuroscience researchers at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center and College of Medicine to test a novel diagnosis and treatment combination for painful diabetic neuropathy. The approach combines spinal cord stimulation with measurement of small fiber nerve activity using a patent-pending device called Detecting Early Neuropathy (DEN). Diabetes is a growing health concern worldwide, ...

Washington, DC—Diamonds contain evidence of the mantle rocks that helped buoy and grow the ancient supercontinent Gondwana from below, according to new research from a team of scientists led by Suzette Timmerman—formerly of the University of Alberta and now at the University of Bern—and including Carnegie’s Steven Shirey, Michael Walter, and Andrew Steele. Their findings, published in Nature, demonstrate that superdeep diamonds can provide a window through space and time into the supercontinent growth and formation ...

The American Cancer Society has awarded the University of Cincinnati Cancer Center an Institutional Research Grant. Cancer Center member David Plas, PhD, is primary investigator for the grant, with members Maria Czyzyk-Krzeska, MD, PhD, and Kathryn Wikenheiser-Brokamp, MD, PhD, serving as co-principal investigators. The American Cancer Society awards Institutional Research Grants to academic and nonprofit organizations that have a track record of outstanding cancer research and a pool of experienced researchers who can mentor junior faculty. The purpose is to support early-stage ...

Washington, DC— As climate change warms the Earth, higher-latitude regions will be at greater risk for toxins produced by algal blooms, according to new research led by Carnegie’s Anna Michalak, Julian Merder, and Gang Zhao. Their findings, published in Nature Water, identify water temperatures of 20 to 25 degrees Celsius (68 to 77 degrees Fahrenheit) as being at the greatest risk for developing dangerous levels of a common algae-produced toxin called microcystin.   Harmful algal blooms result when bodies of water get overloaded with nitrogen and phosphorus ...

The Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine (ABM) has released new literature-based recommendations related to breastfeeding in the setting of substance use and substance use disorder (SUD) treatments. The new clinical protocol is published in the peer-reviewed journal Breastfeeding Medicine. Click here to read the article now. Miriam Harris, MD and Elisha Wachman, MD, from Boston Medical Center, and coauthors, provide breastfeeding recommendations in the setting of non-prescribed opioid, stimulant, sedative-hypnotic, alcohol, nicotine, and cannabis use, and SUD treatments. They also offer guidance on the use of toxicology testing in breastfeeding ...

A new study leverages the NASA Exoplanet Archive and planetary system simulations to make narrowband SETI searches more efficient. October 23, 2023, Mountain View, CA -- In a new study published in the Astronomical Journal, researchers used the known population of exoplanets and extrapolated to the much larger, unknown population of exoplanets to set better thresholds for planetary effects on signals from ETIs (extraterrestrial intelligences). The prior recommendation for the threshold “drift rate” contribution, caused by a planet’s motion around its host star, was 200 nHz. In this work, lead ...

Lisbon, Portugal – 23 October, 2023 The International Society of Microbiota (ISM) is proud to present the 14th International Conference on Skin Ageing & Challenges 2023. This monumental event will unfold at the Altis Grand Hotel in Lisbon, Portugal, and virtually, on November 9-10, 2023. Skin ageing, a multifaceted issue combining both basic research, mechanistic, clinical aspects and health concerns, is gaining significant attention in the scientific community. This year’s conference promises to be a beacon of innovation, ...

Certain gut-dwelling fungi flourish in severe cases of COVID-19, amplifying the excessive inflammation that drives this disease while also causing long-lasting changes in the immune system, according to a new study led by investigators at Weill Cornell Medicine and NewYork-Presbyterian. This discovery identifies a group of patients who may benefit from specialized, but yet-to-be determined treatments. Utilizing patient samples and preclinical models, the research team determined that the growth of fungi in the intestinal ...